Myth vs Fact

Myth	Fact
Islam: Religion of peace.	Malik's Muwatta Book 21, Number 21.6.17: Yahya related to me from Malik that it reached him that a slave of Abdullah ibn Umar escaped and one of his horses wandered off, and the idol worshippers seized them. Then the Muslims recaptured them, and they were returned to Abdullah ibn Umar, before the division of the spoils took place. I heard Malik say about muslim property that had been seized by the enemy, "If it is noticed before the distribution, then it is returned to itsowner. Whatever has already been distributed is not returned to anyone." Malik, when asked about a man whose young male slave was taken by the idol worshippers and then the Muslims re-captured him, said, "The owner is more entitled to him without having to pay his price or value or having to incur any loss before the distribution takes place. If the distribution has already taken place then I think that the slave belongs to his master for his price if the master wants him back." Regarding an umm walad of a Muslim man who has been taken by the idol worshippers and then recaptured by the Muslims and allotted in the distribution of spoils and then recognised by her master after the distribution, Malik said, "She is not to be enslaved. I think that the Imam should pay a ransom for her for her master. If he does not do it, then her master must pay a ransom for her and not leave her. I do not think that she should be made a slave by whoever takes her and intercourse with her is not halal. She is in the position of a free woman because her master would be required to pay compensation if she injured somebody and so she is in the same position (as a wife). He must not leave the mother of his son to be enslaved nor may intercourse with her be made halal." Malik was asked about a man who went to enemy territory to pay ransom or to trade, and he bought a free man or a slave, or they were given to him. He said, "As for the free man, the price he buys him for is a debt against the man and he is not made a slave. If the captive is given to him freely, he is free and owes nothing unless the man gave something in recompense for him. That is a debt against the free man, the same as if a ransom had been paid for him. As for a slave, his former master can choose to take him back and pay his price to the man who bought him or he can choose to leave him, as he wishes. If he was given to the man, the former master is more entitled to him, and he owes nothing for him unless the man gave something for him in recompense. Whatever he gave for him is a loss against the master if he wants him back."
Tafsir

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Where's Barney?

(Cross-posted from America Needs Me)

Throwing up in my mouth a little...

The Botox Hag (D-CA) was just on the tube telling me that we're now going to get to the bottom of why this crisis started in the first place. How? Barney Frank is going to hold hearings.

That's like Hitler presiding over the Nuremberg Trials (shut up, pansies, I'm not saying that Barney Frank is Hitler. Being Barney Frank is bad enough.) Unless the hearings involve just Barney Frank and a mirror they are a sham.

My biggest question is this: why in God's name isn't John McCain telling you this?

He is about to piss away an election over what should be the single biggest issue advantage he has. Bigger than national security, energy, taxes and Maverick sainthood combined.

McCain and Sarah Palin shouldn't let two sentences out of their mouths about the economy without mentioning a) the Democrats who ignored all the warnings while b) McCain was proposing prescient oversight legislation.

Specifics, please. "I fought for reform" isn't good enough. "I proposed this bill on this date and here's what Chris Dodd said," is where he needs to be going now.

I've been watching this unfold and have been dumbfounded. They either start hammering this point or make vacation plans for Nov. 5th.

There is a theory out there that I hope is true. Ace of Spades HQ (my favorite site after elfshaving.com) is where I saw it first. It posits that McCain is just holding out, acting all presidential until the Monster passed both houses and then start up with the finger-pointing.

Well, the fingers had better be getting ready. And they have to point better than this. I usually post these ads here on the site but this one is so limp that a Viagra IV couldn't help it.

Just checked the reader and saw a new post from Michelle Malkin expressing the same frustration.

I have contacted the campaign by email and phone today telling them that I wouldn't be volunteering down the home stretch if this they don't start pressing this advantage. It's time to clog their phone lines with this message: 703-418-2008. Steve Schmidt's mailbox is currently full. Press the volunteer option and tell them you'd love to but not until they pull their heads out.

I've been championing a fighter pilot for president.

Time for him to fight, already.

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B*N*S*N1

Rangers receive awards for valor

Sep 30, 2008
BY Bob Reinert

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - It was so dark in that area of Iraq the night of April 26, 2008, Spc. Joe Gibson wasn't certain what he had just stepped on as he walked through the chest-high grass between a series of two-foot-deep irrigation ditches.

Gibson, a mortarman with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, took two more steps forward and then turned around to investigate.

"It's my job to make sure, so I turned around to make sure," Gibson recalled. "I started moving the grass out of the way to see what I had stepped on."

It was an insurgent, who raised his AK-47 rifle toward Gibson.

"He had an advantage on me," Gibson said. "I knew he would have shot me first, so I just dived on him."

As they struggled, the insurgent uttered the word "bomb" in English. He was wearing an explosive suicide vest.

"I thought at that moment that I probably was going to die, but I didn't care," Gibson said. "There was nothing I could do about it, so I kept on doing what I was doing."

He ultimately shot and killed the insurgent, saving the lives of all the Rangers around him. For that and his other actions that night, Gibson, 23, was awarded the Silver Star at a ceremony Sept. 26 at the Evergreen Theater on Fort Lewis.

Gibson was one of 45 Soldiers from the 2nd Bn., 75th Ranger Regt. who received combat awards following their recent deployment at the ceremony, presided over by Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Fla. Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., commanding general, I Corps and Fort Lewis, was in attendance.

"You are a special breed," Olson told the assembled Rangers. "We do ask a lot of you. It's all a part of your job. It's a calling. And for that, the nation and I thank you, and we are fiercely proud of you."

Olson called Gibson's actions "awesome, and we were all inspired by them."

Prior to Gibson's encounter with the insurgent, the Rangers had been inserted by helicopter.

"It was in the middle of the night," said Master Sgt. Bryan Barker, Gibson's platoon sergeant. "It was a very dark night, about zero illumination. We were just out kind of in the middle of nowhere."

After landing, the Rangers were met by intense small-arms and machine-gun fire. They immediately took two casualties, including a member of Gibson's squad.

"The first thing that I wanted to do was just get to him," Gibson said. "Me and another guy moved to him immediately."

Under fire, they treated the Soldier and saw to it that he and the other casualty were evacuated.

"It was physically demanding," Gibson admitted. "It's your buddy there, and you don't want to quit. He's all right. He lived through that."

A native of Yale, Okla., who joined the Army in May 2005, Gibson is married to Sgt. Samantha Gibson of the 61st Chemical Company. They met three years ago at Fort Lewis. Shortly after the raid, Spc. Gibson reenlisted for six years to become an infantry team leader in 3rd Platoon, A Co.

"That's what I joined the Army to do," said Gibson of that night last April. "I feel honored to get that chance to do what I did.

"I was just doing what I had to do. I don't really think I deserve anything special for that."

Bob Reinert is a reporter with Fort Lewis' Northwest Guardian
(source)

Rangers lead the way!!!!! (The emphasis in the above is mine...lol)

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B*N*S*N2

Paras return from Afghanistan to brand new accommodation

2 Oct 08

Soldiers from 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment have been moving into their new home in the purpose-built rooms in Merville Barracks at Colchester Garrison this week after returning from a six month operational tour in Afghanistan.

Members of 3 PARA moving into their new accommodation
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC]

The soldiers are moving from their old rooms in Hyderabad Barracks into the second and final phase of the £560 million development at Merville Barracks, which was completed in June 2008.

The centrepiece of the new Barracks is the new junior ranks single living accommodation (JRSLA), where each soldier has their own room with en-suite bathroom. These are built in 69-room blocks, split into flatlets of between six and eight rooms, each with a communal cooking and cleaning area, and common room. This makes a considerable change from the previous accommodation in Colchester, much of which dates back to the 1930s and 40s, and in some cases to Victorian times.

Private Ryan Hanks got back from Afghanistan last Friday, Friday 26 September 2008, with B Company and is enjoying his new surroundings:

"We were in four-man rooms before at our old barracks" said Pte Hanks. "We hadn't seen these before we moved in on Friday so when I saw it, it was mega. Everyone has got a double bed and you've got your own bathroom now as well. We've also got a washing machine in the other room which is good."

Soldiers making the most of one of the communal kitchen areas
[Picture: Cpl Rupert Frere RLC]

Major Aidan Coogan, Regimental Adjutant of The Parachute Regiment, said:

"The move into new accommodation, which is of a standard that our soldiers deserve, has actually been a long journey from Aldershot to Colchester.

"We are absolutely delighted that we now have accommodation and working conditions of the highest quality that befit the work that our modern soldiers do."..

There is more, Go here to find out.

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B*N*S*N3

Displaced Families Return to Al Khwalis

Thursday, 02 October 2008 By Sgt. Mark Albright
14th Public Affairs Detachment

AL KHWALIS — More than 100 Individually Displaced families returned to their homes recently in the town of Al Khwalis. The event was celebrated by a welcome ceremony and is a significant mark in the reconciliation process. The families left the area when tensions mounted after the Iraqi Army cleared the area of Al Qaeda last year.

“Today was a ceremony that represents the reconciling of differences between Sunni and Shia families,” said Capt. Roger Miranda, executive officer, 1st Battalion, 19th Brigade, 5th Division, Military Transition Team. “These people have been living in the town of Hib Hib since they were displaced.”

There were more than 500 people who returned to Khwalis in the reconciliation process that had been ongoing since January. The reconciliation council met multiple times and decided who is allowed to come back.

“I am so happy today because these families are able to come back to their homes,” said sheik Ratif Al Sa’adi, a member of the reconciliation council for Al Khwalis, “This is a great step for the council and for the people returning.”

Read the rest here.

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